Suit between owner of injured horse and Readington Township trainer dismissed but could be reinstated

READINGTON TWP. — A lawsuit between the owner of a horse who was injured while being evaluated and an Olympic equestrian team contender has been dismissed, but could be reinstated.

Cesar Parra, with Sara and Michal Davis' horse, Van The Man

According to court documents, the horse, William, suffered permanent injuries after he flipped over backward while being lunged, a common way to exercise horses in place of riding them.

The owner of the horse, Trudy Miranda, filed suit against Cesar Parra in Superior Court claiming his negligence was to blame. Parra in turn filed a countersuit claiming that Miranda defamed him in an attempt to knock him out of contention for the team now at the Olympics.

That trial was scheduled to start on July 23. Instead, Miranda's attorney, Jeffery Pocaro, was apparently not ready. Judge Peter Buchsbaum issued an order to dismiss the case without prejudice. He also ordered Pocaro to pay for Parra's expenses since Parra's attorney and expert witnesses had appeared on July 23 and 24 for the trial that never happened.

Miranda was given 45 days to hire a new attorney and reinstate the case. If she does not, then the case will be dismissed with prejudice, according to the court order.

Parra will have 30 days from the reinstatement to amend the first three counts of his defamation counterclaim to specify the language that was defamatory.

On June 15, Judge Buchsbaum granted Parra's motion to bar Miranda's expert witness from testifying or presenting his report at trial. On July 13, Buchsbaum denied Miranda's motion to exclude Parra's expert witness's report and testimony from the trial.

Parra, who was hoping to earn a berth on the United States Equestrian Team for this summer's Olympics, which are now under way, was charged with animal cruelty in municipal court in March but those charges were later dismissed.

He did not make the list of nominated entries for the Olympics, which was announced in June.

Parra became one of Colombia’s top international dressage riders and was named the Colombian National Champion multiple times. He competed in the 2004 Olympic Games and the 2006 World Equestrian Games for Colombia. In 2008 he became a United States citizen.

Last year Parra became the first Latin American rider to compete on a United States Dressage Team when he was on the gold medal-winning team that competed at the Pan American Games in Mexico.